The task, quest, and journey that precedes the action of this epic poem is Odysseus's joining an expedition to recover Helen, the abducted queen of Sparta. After the task and quest of recovering Helen are accomplished, then Odysseus's task, quest, and journey is to get himself back home to his native land of Ithaca.
Joseph Campbell describes the object of the hero's quest as being an "elixir," something that will provide a life enhancement for the hero or will provide some sort of healing for the hero's community. In Odysseus's case, he himself is the "elixir." By reaching home, Odysseus will heal his community on Ithaca by restoring stability to his own home, which is plagued by the more than 100 suitors who are pestering his wife to marry one of them.
Whereas the task and quest are straightforward (recover Helen and return home), the journey is complicated because Odysseus runs into a number of obstacles on his return voyage. He angers the sea god, Poseidon, by blinding his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus. Poseidon's anger causes Odysseus and his men to be driven off course, and as they try to get back on track, they encounter a number of dangers, such as the Lotus Eaters, the Laestrygonians, Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, and the island of Thrinacia.
Odysseus even has to journey to the ends of the earth and conjure up the spirit of the prophet Teiresias to get guidance on the perils that await him upon his return home. Guidance from such a prophetic figure is common for heroes on the archetypal quest (compare Yoda and Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars saga).
Ultimately, armed with advice from Teiresias, help from the gods (especially Athena), and his own wits, Odysseus will complete the journey home, defeat the suitors, and bring peace to his own house.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
What are the task, quest, and journey archetypes in The Oddysey?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Why is the fact that the Americans are helping the Russians important?
In the late author Tom Clancy’s first novel, The Hunt for Red October, the assistance rendered to the Russians by the United States is impor...
-
There are a plethora of rules that Jonas and the other citizens must follow. Again, page numbers will vary given the edition of the book tha...
-
The poem contrasts the nighttime, imaginative world of a child with his daytime, prosaic world. In the first stanza, the child, on going to ...
-
The given two points of the exponential function are (2,24) and (3,144). To determine the exponential function y=ab^x plug-in the given x an...
-
The play Duchess of Malfi is named after the character and real life historical tragic figure of Duchess of Malfi who was the regent of the ...
-
The only example of simile in "The Lottery"—and a particularly weak one at that—is when Mrs. Hutchinson taps Mrs. Delacroix on the...
-
Hello! This expression is already a sum of two numbers, sin(32) and sin(54). Probably you want or express it as a product, or as an expressi...
-
Macbeth is reflecting on the Weird Sisters' prophecy and its astonishing accuracy. The witches were totally correct in predicting that M...
No comments:
Post a Comment